On thankfulness and a carrot cake cheesecake

Thanksgiving is a journey home, even if the journey is only theoretical.

It is, for so many of us, the favourite of holidays — evoking memories of food and abundance, family and home. Of pumpkins and fall colours. Of college and university students returning for the weekend. And of aunts and uncles and grandparents gathered together at the table.

For those of us fortunate enough, Thanksgiving is a day that revolves around food, gratitude and love, all of which play powerful roles in human memory. Evolution has ensured that food, arguably the most fundamental of necessities for life, is a privileged target of memory. Gratitude, like food, triggers the release of the brain chemical dopamine — also known as the feel-good hormone. The combination of food and gratitude makes Thanksgiving one of our most memorable collective events.

The concept of thanksgiving ceremonies has been around for a very long time. In Canada, we’ve come to associate our earliest Thanksgiving with the reunification of the fleet of ships that were part of the Frobisher expedition in search of the Northwest Passage in 1578. Storms and calamities separated the ships, but when they were finally reunited, there was a sermon on thankfulness, and though we don’t know much about the feast that ensued, we do know that the reunification of the fleet also meant the reunification of the food supplies, and thankfulness for that alone would have been an important part of the celebration.

Almost every civilization, culture and race around the world has been conducting various harvest rituals associated with thanksgiving, food and feasting for millennia. Almost 5,000 years ago, the Mesopotamians, generally regarded as the oldest known civilization, celebrated the barley harvest with a thanksgiving celebration known as Akitu. The Ancient Romans, Ancient Greeks, Persians, Hindus, Chinese, Celtic Druids, Pagans, Africans, and Indigenous Peoples of North and South America also celebrated some sort of harvest-related thanksgiving ceremonies and feasts.

If you’re responsible for dessert at your upcoming Thanksgiving feast, this carrot cake cheesecake, with its four alternating layers of carrot cake and cheesecake (baked together), is a showstopper holiday-worthy dessert. It’s also surprisingly simple to make and has a harvest feel to it because of the carrots but would be equally good served at other celebratory dinners. Don’t be daunted by the long ingredient list, as the cake comes together easily and is actually best made a day or two in advance. (Though it is also very good served the same day it is made.)

Four Layer Carrot Cake Cheesecake

Note: you will need a 23-cm or 9-inch springform pan

For the cheesecake layers

500 grams cream cheese

½ cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup sour cream

For the carrot cake layers

¾ cup neutral vegetable oil such as sunflower oil

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp salt

1 cup finely grated carrots, packed

For the cream cheese frosting

75 grams (1/3 cup) cream cheese

1 tbsp butter, softened

1 ½ cups icing sugar

1 tbsp sour cream

½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

To make cheesecake

Beat the cream cheese and sugar together with a hand (or stand) mixer. Add the eggs and flour and continue beating. Stir in the vanilla and sour cream. Set aside.

To make carrot cake

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, using hand (or stand) mixer, beat together the oil and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, continue beating. Add the vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture and stir gently. Fold in the grated carrot.

To assemble cake

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Generously grease the springform pan sides and bottom with butter. If you are not sure if pan is leakproof, either wrap the outside of the pan in foil or set it inside a larger pan.

Begin by spreading approximately half of the carrot cake batter into the bottom of the pan. Use a spatula or the back of the spoon to level the batter. Next, spread approximately half of the cheesecake batter gently on top of the carrot cake, taking care not to blend the layers.

Repeat the last two layers, ending with cheesecake layer, and gently levelling and evening the top layer. Tap the pan lightly on the counter to eliminate air bubbles.

Bake the cheesecake for 50 minutes, then check to make sure that the top is not browning too quickly (If it is browning move to step below.) If it is not browning and simply a pale golden colour, return the cake to the oven and continue checking every 5 minutes until the cake has been in the oven for approximately 65-70 minutes and a wooden skewer comes out cleanly. The top cheesecake layer should be clearly set and slightly golden.

If at 50 minutes the cake is browning (rather than being a pale golden colour), remove the cake, turn the oven temperature to 325 F, and cover the cake loosely with foil before returning it to the oven. Continue cooking for an additional 15-20 minutes for a total of 65 to 70 minutes, checking every 5 minutes. When a wooden skewer comes out cleanly and top layer of cheesecake is clearly set, the cake is ready.

Set the cooked cake to cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and continue beating until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, salt, and sour cream. Refrigerate until ready to frost the cake.

When the cheesecake is fully cooled, spread the frosting on top of the cake and wrap gently in cling wrap (using toothpicks, or chopped walnuts, if desired, to keep frosting from the wrap). Refrigerate until one hour before serving. Let the cake come to room temperature for serving. This cake is even better when made a day before serving.

Lindy Mechefske is the award-winning author of Out of Old Ontario Kitchens (2018), Sir John’s Table and A Taste of Wintergreen. Find/contact her at lindymechefske.com.